Dwelling in the Secret Place - Shadowing the Almighty

All right. Good afternoon, friends. You know, today I'm going to be teaching, and it will

be Dwelling in the Secret Place, Shadowing the Almighty. If you want a title for today,

I have entitled as Dwelling in the Secret Place, Shadowing the Almighty. My wife often

reminds me that every time I start teaching, I do a one-day seminar mode. So I hope I will

not do that today, or we never know. Yeah. So, you know, today's teaching, Dwelling in

the Secret Place, Shadowing the Almighty. If you read John chapter 6, John chapter

John 6 · chapter mention John 6 · chapter mention

6 is when we read about Jesus, the feeding of the 5,000, right? And as you read that

story, after Jesus fed the 5,000, the next day he went to the other side of the shore.

And the crowd continued to flock Jesus, and so they came seeking for Jesus, and then they

on the other side of the shore. And that was the occasion when Jesus makes something very

blunt, right? He said, you guys are seeking me not because you have seen the miracles

and you're beginning to put your faith in me, but because you ate the loaves and had

your fill, and that's the reason why you are seeking me, right? And he said, your ancestors

have had the manna, you know, the bread, and they all died. But he said, I am the bread

of life, and he who eats of me will live forever. Such a controversial statement that he made,

right? He said, I am the bread of life, and as in life derives from me, yeah? You know,

there are things which are temporary, but the thing that I give is eternal, and I am

the bread of life, and I am that person, yeah? Such a very controversial statement. And that

unsettled the people, yeah? Like, you know, the people said, isn't he the son of Joseph

and Mary? And isn't he the guy that we know? And it was blasphemous, yeah? Saying that

he is the Messiah. And some people said, this is a very hard teaching, we cannot accept.

Some people found this offensive, yeah? And it was on this occasion when many of his disciples

decided to stop following Jesus, yeah? It wasn't an easy route that Jesus took. He said,

I am the bread of life, and that separated the true followers and the people who are

just flocking him for different reasons. Such a blunt statement. And then, at that occasion,

Jesus turns to his disciples, and he said, are you guys going to leave me as well? And

that was the moment when Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of

eternal life, yeah? And then, mark his words, we have come to believe and to know that you

are the holy one of God. These are the words of Peter, right? Simon Peter. He is the guy

who acknowledged Christ as the Messiah. He is the one who saw Jesus Christ more than

just a man from Nazarene. Peter saw Christ. Jesus Christ, not as a mere human being, but

he knew that Jesus had the words of eternal life. And he said, we have come to believe

and we have come to know that you are the one, the holy one of God. And this is the

same guy, even after Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, this is the same guy, Simon

Peter, who stood on the day of Pentecost, and he preached the gospel. And that's when

the Holy Spirit swept across the room and it resulted in the birthing of the churches,

right? And one chapter later, Acts chapter 3, he's found again with John. And then, you

Acts 3 · chapter mention

know, they were going through Solomon's portico, which is also called the beautiful gate. And

there was a lame beggar there and expecting some money from Peter and John. And then,

you know what? Peter said, look straight in the eye and said, gold and silver I have

none. And he said, what I have, I give you. What I have, I give you. And he said, rise

up in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up. That's something Peter has, right? And if you continue

to track the life of Peter, it's fascinating, yeah? And that's chapter 3, Acts chapter 3.

Acts 3 · chapter mention

Two chapters later in Acts chapter 5, here's the same guy. They were doing so many wonders

Acts 5 · chapter mention

and signs and wonders. And then now, you know, they begin to bring the sick people in on

their mats and on their beds so that Peter's shadow might fall on these guys. Crazy stuff,

right? This is not Jesus. Here we're not talking about Jesus. Here we're talking about Peter,

someone who had followed Christ. And now, whose shadows, like, I mean, Peter's shadow

that falls on these sick guys, they're getting healed. And this is after Christ had resurrected.

Crazy stuff. And so, if you and I think about a shadow healing people, this is not the shadow

of Peter. It cannot be. It is the shadow of the Almighty, the shadow of the Shaddai, yeah?

The mighty one. And this is the story of, you know, Peter. He continued to cling on

to Jesus no matter what. He saw that in Jesus there is eternal life, and he wouldn't let

that go. It's breathtaking, guys. And so, this guy, you know, Peter is someone who decided

to cling on to Jesus no matter what. And you know what? The life, the manifestation, the

power and the manifestation that came through Peter was the shadow of Christ, the healing

of Christ, the anointing of Christ. Everything reflected Christ. Mighty, mighty glory of

power of God displayed through the life of Peter. And so, this teaching comes from Psalm

91, the idea of Psalm 91 verse 1 where it says, He who dwells in the shelter of the

Psalms 91:1

most high shall abide in the shadow of the Almighty, yeah? Most versions say, He who

dwells in the shelter of the most high. And I love the King James Version where it says,

He who dwells in the secret place of the most high, yeah? I love the word secret place.

He who dwells in the secret place of the most high shall abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

And so, my statement is, what you dwell on, you shadow that. You know, as in, you shadow

what you dwell on. Like, the thing that you're feeding on, the habits or the practices, the

lifestyle that you have learned to cultivate and develop, those things will manifest in

your life. And that is true for everybody. And so, what we are dwelling on is quite important,

right? To dwell is not just to visit. To dwell is to live, to recite, and to live out of

that, to live from that. It is something continuing. It is not a one-time thing, right? To dwell

is where it has become your habitat. It has become your lifestyle, where the very life

that you are drawing from is where you dwell. And so, this idea of dwelling in the secret

place, what is this secret place? Yeah? Secret place is not so much of a particular location

because God can meet you where you are. So, it is more about, the secret place is more

about a position where you are able to locate God, a position where you are able to find

God, where there is encounter, where a divine and human meets. Yeah? That's a secret place.

A secret place is where there is encounter between God and man, where there is manifestation,

where there is conversation, where there is revelation, where there is wrestling, where

blueprint is received, right? That is what the secret place is about. Yeah? It is where

God is. It is, so it can be in your wardrobe, it can be in your bedroom, it can be in your

study room, it doesn't matter, but it is a location where you and I are able to locate

God and encounter God. That is the secret place, right? So, you know, instead of explaining

that again, I'm going to use that word, secret place, as we go on. Yeah? For Moses, two of

his favorite places, where one is the tent of meeting and the other is Mount Sinai. Yeah?

Every time he ascends Mount Sinai, that is where he removes his sandals, you know, before

the holy God. That is where he received the Ten Commandments. Yeah? And every time he

descends from the mountain and descend into the valley, I mean, ascend the mountain and

descend into the valley, that is where the glory of God would radiate through Moses.

Yeah? We find that in Exodus 34. And every time he enters the tent and come out, his

face would be radiant and he would put a veil. And people cannot look in the eye because

the glory of God was manifesting in and through Moses. Yeah? It's fascinating, friends.

And I would say that the power and the level of authority, the power and the level of authority

at which Moses operated in the public, yeah? The level and the power of authority at which

Moses operated in the public is the outflow of his personal dwelling in the secret place.

That's the secret. Because every time he would pitch a tent outside the camp and then

the pillar of God would come in a pillar of cloud and he would talk face to face with

God. No other prophets enjoyed like Moses enjoyed. Yeah? That is his secret place. That

is where revelations were received. And every time he ascends the holy mountain of the Lord,

that is where he will receive the Ten Commandments. That is where he will get the strategies.

That is where he will get the blueprint to go and engage in the valley again. What's

your secret place? Do you practice secret place? This is not just for pastors. This

is for everybody. Everybody. If you are a believer, if you don't know how to locate

God, if you don't have a dwelling place where just you and God encounters, something is

wrong. You cannot rely on your pastors. You cannot rely on people alone. This is why Jesus

longs to have a relationship with the body, yet Jesus also longs for a personal one on

one relationship. This is why Christianity is different from any other religion. Yeah?

Any other religion. God wants to have a personal relationship with X29 as a family of God.

True. But God also longs for a one on one relationship with Josh, with Guy. God longs

for that. And so, you know, today we have a subject and a predicate here. The subject

is one who dwells in the secret place of the Most High. That's the subject, right? One

who is able to dwell in the secret place. The predicate is they will shadow the Almighty.

So, one of the reasons why many do not shadow the Almighty, and as in one we are not able

to display the presence, the power, the majesty, the goodness, the healing of God is because

we have not learned how to dwell in the secret place. We visit there occasionally. And so

the manifestation is occasional. Yeah. But we got to learn how to make this a lifestyle.

The, you know, learning to dwell in the secret place, as in learning to abide in the presence

of God 24-7. And many have not learned, and because the consequence is that many have

not learned how to dwell in the secret place, in their personal life, and then they try

to project God life in the public. Right? There's no secret place. There's no dwelling

in the secret place. Yet they're trying to project a God life in the public. And it's

just a matter of time when you can pretend for that long. Everything gets exposed. You

know, I used to follow Ravi Zakaria. He had shaped my thinking to a large extent. I followed,

and I was devastated when I heard the news. And one can only pretend for a period of time

if there is an evil intent that you have, if there is gossips, if there is lust, if

there is greed that you and I haven't dealt with in our personal lives, that will manifest

to your neighbor, to your friends sooner or later. Everything that is personal gets exposed.

Yeah? So one thing that can happen to a church like X29 is easily is that we are spoon-fed

with good teachings every Sunday from Jacob or Monday from dawn or Tuesday from May. So

it's easy to be reliant on these guys because they are doing all the studying and all the

preparation and all the teaching for us that we are just, we are just doing what we can

do for us that we are just receiving from these guys, being spoon-fed. And so once we

go home, you know, we are looking for the next teaching again. And I have, and I am

guilty of that. You know, there was a point of time when I'm receiving these good stuffs

where worship songs are edifying, prayers are amazing, I'm receiving, you know, prophetic

words and good teaching. So I go back home and, you know, I was cherishing those moments

that I had on Sunday and I'm looking forward to the next meeting. But in the process what

I have lost is I have not learned how to cultivate one-on-one relationship with God. And so we

need to learn how to dwell in the secret place ourselves, not just from pastors, but learn

how to feed ourselves with the word. Learn how to engage with God one-on-one. Learn how

to linger in the presence of God. Yeah. Because how you worship here reflects how you worship

at home. I know this is a hard saying as a worship leader, but if you don't learn,

if you don't know how to worship here in this church, that cannot happen when you are alone.

Because what's practiced in the personal, in the personal practice, is that you have

that. That cannot happen when you're alone. Because what's practiced in the personal gets

manifested no matter what. Yeah? So let Sunday and Monday and Tuesday teachings be a cherry

on your top, right? It's like let these teachings be a bonus to what you are already learning

to cultivate. Let the things that you are struggling to learn, the things that you are

not clear, let Sunday teachings, Monday teachings, Tuesday teachings, let these teachings provide

you direction and provide you more insights. Yeah? So yeah. So what does it mean for us

to abide in the shadow of the Almighty? What does the fruit look like? You know, we don't

need to read any further. Just Psalm 91, which we have, where we have taken the main idea.

In that Psalm, Psalm 91, it's a very common Psalm, but it's a beautiful Psalm. And as

you read there, there are so many things, what it means to dwell and abide in the shadow

of the Almighty. Once we learn how to dwell in the shelter of the Most High, shall abide

in the shadow of the Almighty. And we go on and on. And just a few points here. Verse

3, God's deliverance from the fowler and the deadly pestilence, right? Deliverance is assured

there. And the very next verse, there's a divine covering and savor refuge. Yeah? Verse

4. You know, Pharaoh tried to bring harm to the Israelites. God wouldn't allow that to

happen. Yeah? King Darius puts Daniel in the lions den. There's a divine covering. And

the next verse, 5, verse 5, there's no fear. No evil shall fall, shall befall. Right?

On them. No plague. This is interesting. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, there were

no sick ones among them. And one thing I find it very fascinating is, even the sandals on

their feet and the clothes on their bodies did not even wear out. Crazy stuff there.

No plague. And the next one, angelic protection here. And guarding. This is where Satan codes

from. Right? In Luke 4, when Satan tempted Jesus, he said, he will command his angels

concerning you so that not even your foot will strike against the stone. Even Satan

knows the scripture. And he quotes it there. There's an angelic protection. Yeah? And the

power and authority to trample the enemy. Verse 13. And I'm going to go quickly here.

Assurance for divine intervention in verse 15. When he calls, I will answer. Right? You

know, Elijah called on God in 1 Kings 18, and then God came as a consuming fire. Right?

God responded. When we call, God answers. And 9, presence guarantee. And the next one,

the sandals on his feet. Where it says, I will be with him in trouble. In Psalm 91.

There's rescuing and honor in verse 15. I will rescue him, and I will honor him. Just

imagine, instead of you honoring God, God honoring you. Just one story in the Bible,

the prodigal son story. The person who is the most undeserving to be honored is the

father. He asked for his share, went away, squandered it, returned to the father, and

he felt he was not even worthy to be a son. And you know what the father does? Honored

him. Put him on the best rope. Have a feast. God honoring you. God honoring me. And I will

satisfy him with long life. Verse 16. David also says, God, you will prepare a table before

me in the presence of my enemies. Satisfaction. God satisfying us. And then the last one in

verse 16 where it says, I will show them my salvation. It doesn't say, I will give you

my salvation. Give is a future, and I will give you my salvation. God will give you my

salvation. Give is a future, and I will give. But here it says, I will show you my salvation,

as in, it will be your present reality. It will be your present experience. So these

are just some stuffs of what it means to abide in the shadow of the Almighty. There's going

to be divine deliverance. There's going to be divine covering and safe refuge. There

will be no fear. There will be no evil that will be allowed to befall on us. There will

be no plague. There will be angelic command and protection. There will be power and authority

to trample the enemy. There will be assurance for divine intervention. The presence is guaranteed.

There's going to be rescuing. There's going to be honoring. There's going to be satisfaction.

And there's going to be the experience of salvation here on earth. This is someone who

walks in the shadow of the Almighty. These are some of the benefits that I'm just pointing

out here, just from Psalm 91. And who is this for? It is for someone who knows. It is for

someone who dwells in the shelter of the Most High. It is for those who learns how to dwell

in the secret place of the Most High. It's crazy stuff. Any disagreements or any question

or any thoughts? Any comments?

How is the secret place and the throne room?

Secret place and the throne room?

You talked about entering the throne room. Also you mentioned the secret place. Is the secret place more

here and the throne room gives you access to the throne room?

I don't have a definitive answer for that, but as far as my mind is concerned, as far as my understanding is concerned,

for my own clarity's sake, yeah, I would differentiate those two. As in throne room, as in it's where God dwells.

And throne room, like I wear the throne room, I wear the throne room,

is it me entering into the presence of God or God allowing me to be with him, to be at his presence, to be at his throne room,

and God giving me the access to enter the throne room? Or I as a son have the relationship and the audacity to walk into my father's throne room?

Whereas secret place is where I can locate or I can position myself to meet God. Yeah? I don't know if that helps.

And so then, you know, what are you saying to me? Do we have a biblical argument for this?

What are you teaching? What are the stories that you can back up your argument with, right?

And you will see a pattern from the Old Testament to the New Testament. I can give you a few.

Just to set an example, Moses. I had shared a little bit, but Moses is someone who knows how to read the Bible.

He knows how to dwell in a secret place. And this is why he would enter the tent of meeting.

That is where he gets the strategies, where he would get the prophecies, where he would get the blueprint, be it in the mountain or in the tent.

And this is why that's the secret for him to engage in the public square, right?

And this is why his face would radiate because in Exodus 34 it clearly says,

because he had spent time with the Lord. Isn't that interesting?

Because, right? His face was radiant because he had spent time in the presence of the Lord.

This is why we will radiate God's glory when we spend time with him.

And that's Moses. What about David?

We think that killing Goliath is a surprise. It's not really a surprise.

When you know David, when you know his upbringing, when you know his story.

David had killed bears and lions in private.

And killing Goliath did not come as a surprise.

You know, when David became the king of Israel,

you know, the Philistines came with full army, full force to attack David.

And you know what? David, instead of panicking, instead of responding, what did David do?

In 2 Samuel 5, it says, David, instead of panicking, instead of responding, what did David do?

In 2 Samuel 5, it says, David went down into his stronghold.

As in, David went down into his secret place where he encounters God.

He says, Lord, should I go and fight the Philistines?

Will you deliver them into my hands? That's the question he asks.

And you know what the Lord said? Go, fight. I will do what you said.

I will deliver them into your hands. And David goes and fights.

And what's the result? Easy victory for him.

David knows how to dwell in the secret place.

This is why he would say, better one day in the court of the Lord,

where there is the presence of God, than thousands elsewhere.

He knew the secret place. This is why.

Where can I hide from your presence? Yeah.

Even if I go to the depths of Israel, you are there.

Even if I ascend to the highest mountains, you are there.

Even if I go to the farthest ocean, you are there.

Where can I hide from your presence?

David knows. David knows how to dwell in the abiding presence of God.

And so this is why it did not come as a surprise.

Next, Daniel. In Daniel chapter 6, right?

Daniel 6 · chapter mention

Daniel knows the secret place.

He would practice this, practicing of going to his room,

opening the window towards Jerusalem, and pray three times a day.

He would have conversations with God. Three times a day.

It doesn't matter. And then you know what?

What the King Darius did was, they made a decree,

saying that for the next 30 days, you cannot pray to any other gods or to any human.

And you know what David did? Sorry, Daniel did.

Went home, did what he usually does. Yeah.

Crazy stuff. And then King Darius puts him in a lion's den.

God protects. There was a divine covering there.

Fiery furnace, it doesn't matter.

Be it interpretation of dreams, it doesn't matter.

Be it visions, it doesn't matter.

The shadow of the Almighty begins to manifest in the life of Daniel.

Why? He knows how to dwell in the secret place.

That is where intimacy is built.

That is where revelations are given.

That is where the empowerment of the transfusion of God life happens. Yeah.

We can go on and on and on. What about New Testament?

Jesus is a perfect example of that.

Jesus will not shadow anything on his own.

He will only shadow the Father.

This is why he has said, I only came to do my Father's will.

Nothing that I do is on my own. Nothing.

He said, nothing that I do is on my own.

Whatever the Father tells him, he does it.

This is why he said, I must be in my Father's business.

I came to reveal the Father. Yeah.

And every time he withdraws and connects with the Father,

in Luke 4 where it says, he returned in power.

That's the secret of having a powerful life, eh?

When you learn how to dwell in this secret place,

the life of God begins to manifest in you and in me.

Take the life of Stephen, the first martyr in the Bible.

If you study his life, it is mind-blowing, I would say.

Because I think it's in Acts chapter 1,

Acts 1 · chapter mention

when Judas hanged himself and they need to replace him,

what they did was they cast lots.

And then the lot fell on Matthias, and Matthias was elected

to be the one who would take the place of Judas.

That was prior to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,

because that was in Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

And the outpouring of the Holy Spirit happens in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And now the Apostles were so busy preaching and teaching,

and then the food distribution.

So they were doing everything.

We've got to focus on a few things, which is the preaching of the Gospel,

and we need some help to distribute the foods.

Stephen was chosen on the ground that he was a man full of grace,

full of truth, sorry, full of grace and full of the Holy Spirit.

What we noticed was there was no casting of lots after that.

Why? Because the Spirit was poured out.

It's crazy.

And you know what?

And when you compare the life of Stephen and Jesus, very identical.

Jesus performed many signs and wonders.

Stephen, who was chosen for food distribution,

started performing signs and wonders.

Then, you know, opposition arose for Jesus.

For Stephen, people became jealous.

The opposition arose.

Jesus had to deal with the scholars of his day, like the Pharisees and the scribes.

And for Stephen, scholars from the synagogue, the Freedmen, from Cyrene,

from Alexandria, from Cilicia, all the scholars from these places came up

and argued against Stephen.

And they were not able to win against him because God was giving him the wisdom.

And so what was the strategy?

The strategy was they falsely accused Jesus as blasphemous.

What they did with Stephen was the same thing.

They falsely accused him and presented Jesus before the Pilate and Herod,

presented Stephen before the Sanhedrin.

Jesus was asked to be crucified. Stephen was asked to be stoned.

And you know what? Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

Stephen said, Father, do not hold their sin against them.

Jesus said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

Stephen said, Jesus, receive my spirit.

How can such life be possible?

An excellent example of how Stephen can shadow the footsteps of Jesus.

It is mind-blowing.

An ordinary man, an ordinary man who was initially elected for food distribution,

lived an extraordinary life.

This is what it means to shadow Christ, eh, friends?

This is what shadowing looks like, going into the footsteps of Jesus and shadowing that,

mirroring him or reflecting Christ.

We can go on and on and on.

Take the life of Paul.

The very Christ he hated.

And the believers that he is persecuting, later he goes on and says,

to live is Christ and to die is gain.

He shadowed Christ till his death.

In Philippians 1, you read that.

You know, we can go back to the Old Testament and come back in the New Testament,

but it doesn't matter whether it's before the resurrection or after the resurrection.

It doesn't matter whether it's the New Testament or the Old Testament, it doesn't matter.

One who knows how to dwell in the secret place.

One, those people manifest the life of God in their lives.

Yeah?

Any thoughts before we move on?

I wonder how many minutes do I have?

This is a warm-up.

Because we are having a one-day seminar, right?

So, my question is, whose shadow am I casting?

Whose shadow am I casting?

Or a corporate question would be, what kind of shadow are we casting as a body?

Yeah?

So, I want to leave you with some practical questions

and maybe a few things that we can practice and cultivate.

How do I learn to dwell in the secret place of the Most High?

Individually, corporately, how do I learn how to dwell?

If I can see the benefit, if I can see the glory and the beauty of what it means to reflect Christ

and shadow the Almighty, then the more important question is, how can I learn how to dwell?

And so, the first point would be, it requires a deliberate choice and an intentionality.

It requires a deliberate choice and an intentionality.

You know, we are encouraged as a body to withdraw for 15 minutes, right?

And I know some of you guys are practicing that, and 15 minutes have become 30 and more.

I know some of us are sincerely practicing that, and I really applaud you for that.

Yeah? But my question is, if 15 minutes seems a lot to us,

it will be hard for you and for me to shadow the Almighty well.

Because this is not a part-time job that you and I can take up and reflect a little bit here and there.

That's not going to work.

This is a serious business. This is a serious invitation.

And so, I think Bonhoeffer who said, when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.

Not an easy statement, eh? When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.

Same words from Jesus. Jesus said, if you cannot take up your cross daily,

if you cannot deny yourself, you cannot be my disciple.

There is no complacent Christianity here. If you and I are to shadow Christ, it comes with a cost.

And so, the question would be, do you want it? Do you have a desire for it?

Will you actually train for it? Do you have the aggression to pay the price for this?

Yeah? Where, you know, Paul writes in 2 Timothy that a soldier does not get entangled in the civil affairs

and the athlete has to compete to the rules of the game.

It's like there's no time for other unimportant things.

If this is what Christ wants you and I, are you fully in? Are you willing to pay the price?

Many wants it. No doubt about it.

And if I ask the same question, everybody would want it for sure.

Oh yeah, of course, I want to shadow Christ. I want to reflect Christ.

Because that's the main purpose of why we are believers in the first place.

So, desire? Yes, everybody wants a desire for this.

Is everybody passionate about it? No.

Is everybody passionate about this? No.

Is everybody desperate about this? No.

Is everybody willing to pay the price? No.

Hard truth. What about you?

Which category are you in? I'm not judging here.

Like we often talk about the M3.

About, are you desperate to make the Father known? Because the world needs the Father.

The world needs to know the Father. Yeah?

Jesus said before leaving earth, Jesus said go and make disciples.

You don't say unimportant things when you're about to leave.

There are some important things, central things that need to be conveyed before you're leaving.

And Jesus is saying here he is about to ascend to the Father.

And what did he decide to say? He said go and make disciples.

And the thing is, we often forget, like I'm doing some research on discipleship.

But discipleship has been ignored in many of the churches.

And what I've seen a pattern is that the decline for North American churches is the failure in the church to equip sons and daughters.

Discipleship is lacking and this is why the church are not thriving.

Because converts, I remember a church in India, like my home church when we were in India.

We had a mission field in one of the regions in North India.

And we planted a church there, we started a school there, and we would send missionaries there.

Funding was there. So things were going well.

And that went on for more than a decade. And things were going well.

And just when the church felt like, I think it can stand on its own.

The funding stopped because the entire island, it was an island, the entire island became believers.

And then once the funding stopped and once we pulled back the missionaries, thinking that the locals can run it, everything crumbled.

There were a little over 3,500 believers.

And it didn't even take a year for the entire island to be Hindus again.

Crowds will ask for Barabbas again at the end of the day.

Crowds will ask for Barabbas.

If we don't learn how to disciple mature sons and daughters, they will ask for Barabbas again.

Yeah?

So it requires a deliberate choice and an intentionality.

Second, to learn how to dwell in the secret place is to learn how to remove my sandals before the Lord.

To learn how to dwell is to learn how to remove my sandals before the Holy God.

And as in, learn how to be bare and naked.

Learn how to be truly honest with God so that there is no hidden agenda.

So that secret place becomes secret place.

So that secret place is not accommodating secret sin.

Because I've seen many, many people, and I had come out of this several years ago.

I won God, but I won God with something else.

I adore and I cherish the holiness of God, the power of God.

Yet at the same time, there is also the secret sin that is existing in my life.

And this is why if you and I are to permanently dwell in the secret place of the Most High,

we need to learn how to come before this Holy God and learn to remove our sandals before this holy ground like what Moses did.

Because the ground that he is standing is holy.

Because if you and I continue to coexist with some habitual sins, some secret sins along the secret place,

secret sin will drift you away.

Because habitual sin curves the soul.

It curves the soul.

It gives you a posture that is hard to straighten.

Secret sin, habitual sin, dulls your hearing.

It distorts your sight.

It neutralizes the glory of God to manifest in your life.

It awakens an appetite for more sin.

This is what secret sin does.

Some habitual sins that are coexisting.

Though you want the life of God, though I want the life of God, and yet there are some secret sins that are still prevailing in our lives.

One day I am in the presence of God, and then the other day I'm down.

And I'm in darkness again.

And then I go to a worship service and I'm up again.

And then back to work and I am down again, spiritually down again.

How can you and I fight the battle against the enemy when there is a secret sin prevailing in our own lives?

It's not going to be possible.

We will be beaten.

Yeah?

The enemy trembles at the holiness of God.

The enemy trembles at the holiness of God.

And I know people who had some habitual sins.

That continues to plague them for years.

No transformation, no breakthroughs.

Some of the struggles that they have been struggling and sharing with me 20 years ago, still.

That continues to plague them. Why?

Because there is the secret sin that continues.

He has not learned how to get rid of that.

Yeah?

I've been with this very erroneous teaching, I would say.

That, oh yeah, we all go through spiritual dryness in our lives.

That was the teaching I received when I grew up.

And later I found out that what an erroneous teaching is that.

There's no room for spiritual dryness in your life and in my life.

Why?

Because the Holy Spirit doesn't come and go.

He has made a dwelling place in you and in me.

It's permanent.

This is why my body has become the temple of the living God.

Meaning God is always residing in me.

So that means like, do I have to go through dryness and high and low?

No, really. Because God is in me.

But are the challenges real? Yes.

The temptations are real? Yes.

Yeah?

The enemy attacks? Yes.

Am I tempted because of my own sins? Yes.

But that doesn't mean I need to go through a spiritual low.

That's not true. That's not what the Bible teaches.

Yeah?

And so why?

Why consistency is a struggle for many of us?

Yeah? Why consistency?

My question, it's a very hard question.

Why consistency is a struggle for you and for me?

Why? Right?

If God has made his dwelling place in you and in me,

why am I not consistent?

Why am I not always on fire for God?

My struggles may be real. Yeah.

I'm not saying that we have to live unrealistically.

I'm not saying that.

But can't we be on fire?

Though our struggles can be real.

You know, yesterday I was talking with our Aaron Hipp.

And he said he and Reni doesn't take any decision before inquiring the Lord.

They don't take any decision before inquiring the Lord.

And I was like, wow.

Can that be our lifestyle?

Can consistency be so normal for you and for me?

Yeah?

Because if I don't learn how to fight and destroy the bears and the lions in my private life,

I cannot slay the giant in the public.

If I don't learn how to slay the bears and the lions in private,

I will not be able to slay the giant in the public. Yeah?

The third one.

Learning to dwell is learning to train.

If you and I are to dwell in the sacred place,

we've got to learn how to train.

We've got to learn how to train. Why?

Because the enemy is full-time.

There's no part-time enemy.

Satan is coming with full force.

There's no part-time Christianity too.

This is why the enemy will do anything, everything to draw you away from this.

And so learning to dwell is learning to train.

So train what?

For lack of a better word and for me to be able to cover holistic covering,

as in not missing out on anything,

I would use the head, the hands and the heart.

Train for what? Train my head.

Train my head as in my understanding of the Word, my understanding of who God is.

As in not about how much I've read or not about how much I know of the Bible,

but as I read the Word, is my understanding, my knowing of God increased?

Have my understanding of the nature of God increased?

Has my understanding of the truth, the principles, the order,

and the principles which God operates,

am I familiarizing and am I getting to equip my understanding of who God is?

So equipping my head, and as in because the renewing of the mind brings transformation.

So am I training my head?

Second, am I training my hands?

As in the things that I know now, the things that I have heard about God,

the things that God's truth, God's promises, God's plans, God's strategies,

do I live it now?

Can I learn the things that I am being taught on Monday or on Tuesday or on Sunday?

Can I now live them out?

Can I apply?

Can I apply them in my everyday life?

Am I training my hands?

As in am I living them out that I have heard, that I have been taught, that I know?

Yeah?

Because like, let me quickly go back to the first one.

Because knowing, knowing is so important because I will limit the Holy Spirit

and His work in and through me because of my limited understanding of the Word.

Yeah? Yeah? Is that clear?

I will limit the work of the Holy Spirit in me and through me

because of my limited understanding of the Word.

Sometimes the Spirit does, even though I don't fully understand,

but the Word of God provides the framework.

Because it's the Spirit of, Spirit is the Spirit of truth.

God's Word is the Word of truth.

The Word will provide how the Spirit works.

The Spirit might want to go back and forth.

Yeah?

Like the Spirit might want to show how He did with Elijah, how He resurrected Christ,

how He would go with back and forth, how the Spirit had manifested

and how the Spirit had operated in the lives of these many, many believers that we can pick from.

But you know, the Spirit wants to go here, go there, go there,

but you have no idea of how the Spirit works

because you have no knowledge of how the Word teaches.

It will limit you.

The Spirit can only do thus far.

Yes, there are things that the Spirit, by the grace of God, still does things. True.

Yeah? Yeah?

And so, training my head, training my hands, training my heart.

In the process of knowing who God is, in the process of living them out,

am I different now?

Is my character formed?

Like, as in, just use any example, say, let's say love.

The Bible often teaches about love.

God first loved us, and that love has to be unconditional, love has to be sacrificial.

These are things which are very familiar for all of us, right?

Do we practice? Do I practice?

That's the second question.

But then, I'm not known for loving people, but God commands us to love,

and now I am deliberately making choices to love,

and now, I used to be not a very loving person, but I am now.

I do love. I do love people. I do care for people.

Is that who you are? Have you changed?

Is your character developed? Right?

Take for example, Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit.

Those qualities, those nine qualities, can you associate one quality more than the others?

Yeah? Is it kindness? Is it loving kindness? Is it forbearance? Is it self-control?

Or is it peace? Is it joy? What is it that you're more known for?

And then, what are the qualities in those that you are least known for?

You should develop those. Yeah?

Because, you know, at the end of the day, Christ, the stature of Christ, is the standard.

Nothing short, yeah? The standard of Christ is the stature of Christ.

So it means, oh, I'm not so loving, I'm not so generous.

Then, learn to be generous.

My wife is a lot more generous than I am.

I try to be generous. And I know I will be more generous.

I haven't arrived yet.

Let's say I wanted to grow and enjoy.

Do you have anything practical? How would I start to go about doing that?

I think that's another right question.

I mean, training your hands, you know, like, the letting your heart and the letting the whole Spirit do a certain part of the stage.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I would say that it has to start with the truth.

Start with God's word as the truth.

Because my reality may not match with the truth.

So if I start with my reality, my reality is I'm not joyful.

So all I'm doing is I'm cheering myself up.

So it may work, it may not work. Yeah?

But if I start with the truth, where it says joy comes in the morning,

there may be sorrow, there may be grief, but the joy of the Lord is my strength.

Can we root ourselves? Can we find our footing in the word again?

And embrace that, sing that, sing that out, declare that out, and allow that to be our reality.

And now that that kerygma, that proclamation of God's promises, God's truth, now God begins to manifest that in my life.

Or what about people who are way more joyful than you are?

Joy is very contagious. Yeah?

You hang out with people who are always complaining and nagging and see always the dark side of life.

It's hard to find joy with those people.

Same thing with joyful people.

Because they know joy is their reality, and so joy would emanate in these guys.

And so I don't think there's one strategy, but I would say that it is best that we start with the truth.

Which is like, because for us to be sad and angry, that is never God's intent.

The Father wants us to be joyful, right? Yeah.

So two more points and we're done.

Learning to dwell. Oh, sorry.

I want to leave this one last line.

So here's a cycle, right? A cycle is my knowing.

Now, if I'm training my head, my knowing affects my doing.

Right? I used to be ignorant, but now I know.

Now I know that God heals. Now I know that God does this way.

Now my knowing affects my doing.

And my doing transforms my being.

Yeah? My knowing affects my doing.

And now the things that I do, now it transforms who I am.

And the next two points is learning to dwell is learning to commune.

Learning to commune. If you want to learn how to dwell, you've got to learn how to commune.

As in pray or learn how to commune with God.

Because the Holy Spirit communes, right?

And has my prayer changed over the last three to four months?

Has my prayer changed over the last few months?

Now I grew up with one kind of prayer. Prayer is always with petitions.

Lord, give me this. Lord, give me that. Lord, do this for me.

Lord, do that for me. That's what I grew up with, right?

All my prayers are like that. When I need, when I'm praying, I'm asking God for something.

I don't know how to pray any other prayer. When I'm praying, I'm asking God for something.

Is that your prayer?

Does your prayer involve conversation?

Abba, what do you think of this?

I'm thinking this way, but what do you think, Abba? Why?

Does your prayer have conversations? Does your prayer have wrestling?

Lord, I didn't really like what you said or I didn't really feel like that's fair.

What do you think? Come on, I know you said you will do that, but now 30 days have passed by, nothing happened.

What's happening, Abba? Does your prayer involve wrestling, contending?

Back and forth conversations. Do you sometimes even pray to God without having any agenda?

Because you just want to spend some time with him, face to face, father and son, father and a daughter.

Has your prayer changed over the years or over the last three months?

It's so easy to be able to listen to someone's prayer and be able to gauge their level of intimacy with God.

Father, if it's your will, so be it. If it's not your will, it's okay.

It reflects, I mean that's not a bad prayer for sure, but it lacks intimacy.

How specific are your prayers sometimes?

And last one, learning to dwell in the secret place is learning to be both God dependent and body reliant.

Which Jacob also says, right? God dependent and body reliant.

As in, yes, God is a personal God, but in order to shadow Christ, we do that as a body.

Because there's no shadowing of Christ as a solo Christianity, solo display of who you are.

Because if you are so independent and doesn't need anybody, but you just want to shadow Christ,

and then the enemy comes and blows off your flame, there's none to lit up the flame again.

This is why it requires three levels here. One is shadowing under.

As in, Elisha had Elijah, Timothy had Paul, right?

Timothy is learning how to shadow Christ by learning from Paul.

So shadowing under. Yes, of course we all are trying to shadow Christ,

but are there people in your life who is helping you to shadow Christ more accurately?

Keeping you accountable, helping you? Under.

The second one, shadow under, and then the next one is shadow with or alongside.

Like how Daniel and his friends would stand together.

No matter what, Darius says, we're standing together.

Do you have friends? Do you have colleagues?

Do you have people who are also running and walking alongside, who will hold your hand and say,

no matter what, we're going to be like this? The apostles did that.

After the beating, they praise, they worship together.

They have friends that will stood by their side.

So that's with or along. Under, along, and then the next one is for.

Like how Moses would take Joshua to the tent of meeting or when ascending the hill,

he would deliberately take his assistant Joshua, which is very deliberate, right?

Because he is showing the way of the sacred place, the Joshua.

When Moses ascends the hill because God calls him to ascend the hill.

And then I've been reading again and again. I'm searching whether it's written or not.

But the invitation was for Moses to ascend the hill, not Joshua.

There was nothing written in the Bible where God invites Joshua. No.

God invites Moses. So it was not God's invitation for sure.

God, but Moses would take Joshua along, teaching him the way of the sacred place.

The tent of meeting, Moses would take Joshua to the tent of meeting.

And after the conversation was done, Moses leaves.

Joshua would continue to linger in the presence of God.

Are you helping shadow anybody? Are you taking along Joshua's and Timothy's along your side?

I mean, along your walk with God. Do you take people alongside?

Yeah. So all these three are important.

A final line that I want to leave with you guys is pay any price.

Pay any price to dwell under the covering of the Almighty.

Pay any price, any cost to dwell under the covering of the Almighty.

For the secret of victory is to abide where the victor abides.

For the secret of victory is to abide where the victor abides.

And for us, that's Christ.

So any comments or any final thoughts from anybody?

Yeah, or else I'm done. Yeah.

Thank you.